It truly is a great day. Goes to prove this really isn’t an “Idiot America”:
News Wednesday morning of a Bush win in Nevada pushed the president over the 270 Electoral College vote threshold he needed to win re-election, giving him a total of 274 votes. The president is expected to publicly speak at 3 p.m. EST, when he will talk about how to move the country forward.
A source close to the Bush campaign told FOX News the president’s speech will be "conciliatory" in nature, "embracing of the fact that there’s a lot of work to do." The aim will be to begin to try to bring the country together, the source said.
To some extent, Bush will play off of Kerry’s remarks. But the source said
the thrust of the speech will be: "This is not a time of gloating; it’s a time
of governing. …The president will speak as a statesman, not a politician."
The Massachusetts senator will meet with reporters after 2 p.m. EST at
Faneuil Hall in Boston to make some sort of formal announcement.Congratulations, Mr. President," Kerry said in the conversation described to The Associated Press by sources as lasting less than five minutes. One of the sources was Republican, the other a Democrat.
The Democratic source said Bush called Kerry a worthy, tough and honorable opponent. Kerry told Bush the country was too divided, the source said, and Bush agreed. "We really have to do something about it," Kerry said, according to the Democratic official.
"I think you were an admirable and worthy opponent," Bush told Kerry, White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters early Wednesday afternoon. You ran a very tough campaign. You should be proud of the effort you put in."
The president said Kerry was very gracious. After the call Bush hugged his staff. Senior adviser Karen Hughes and White House Chief of Staff Andy Card then congratulated Vice President Dick Cheney and first lady Laura Bush. McClellan said the Republican incumbent was in good spirits all night and the GOP camp knew around mid- to late-day Tuesday that the exit polls showing Kerry leading the race were way off.
News of the phone call came at 11:10 a.m. EST Wednesday. Earlier in the morning, the Bush campaign declared victory, despite claims by Kerry’s campaign
that the fight was not yet over in Ohio.
- Source: Fox News